IWW - Nevidni delavci sveta

Luka Koper workers on strike met with the ombudsman

A delegation of the IPS Union, the union of the subcontracting Luka Koper (Port of Koper) workers on strike, has presented today at 12.00 the situation of severe breaches of rights of workers in Luka Koper to the Office of the Ombudsman in Ljubljana. Workers of the port, that are hired via subcontractors, are in an unequal position, since they are - due to the systemic arrangements of the labor and migration regime in Slovenia - forced to do the same work for substantially lower wages and higher working hours in intolerable and precarious working conditions. In such a regime of dependency the systematic denial of rights of the workers is manifested in various ways: from overtime and unpaid working hours to increased numbers of work injuries.

The delegation of workers was received by the deputy Ombudsman. During the conversation the workers thoroughly explained the practices of the systematic denial of the rights of the workers in the port. The deputy Ombudsman has promised, among other things, that the Ombudsman office will require detailed information from the state labor inspection about the reasons of its inactivity in the case of Luka Koper. He has also encouraged the workers to regularly inform the Ombudsman about the activities of state institutions in charge of the monitoring of the requirements of labor legislation. The conversation also touched upon the responsibility of the Slovene government and the respective minister for transport, dr. Patrick Vlačič. Workers will establish contact with him and the office will demand an official explanation by the minister about concrete measures of his ministry to enact the rights of the workers in the port of Koper.